Brown's veto could spark 'war' over Calif. budget

California Gov. Jerry Brown is shown during a news conference Thursday June 16, 2011, in Los Angeles. The Democratic governor said he had a number of concerns about the budget package passed Wednesday by majority Democrats to close California's remaining $9.6 billion deficit. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
— AP

California Gov. Jerry Brown is shown during a news conference Thursday June 16, 2011, in Los Angeles. The Democratic governor said he had a number of concerns about the budget package passed Wednesday by majority Democrats to close California's remaining $9.6 billion deficit. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
/ AP

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  The warning from Gov. Jerry Brown was ominous: If lawmakers refuse to take the necessary steps to resolve California's budget crisis, the state would become a battleground - "a war of all against all."

The provocative political sound bite, uttered in a March interview with the Los Angeles Times, seems to be coming true in the wake of Brown's veto Thursday of a spending plan from majority Democrats - the first time a California governor has done so since at least 1901, the farthest back state records go.

The veto will let Brown keep trying to sell reluctant Republicans on his main proposal for closing the state's $9.6 billion deficit by extending a series of tax increases set to expire June 30.

The GOP will bear full blame if Brown is forced to resort to deeper cuts to education and vital services to make up for lost tax revenue, the governor cautioned Thursday.

But six months of previous negotiations with Republicans have failed to produce the four GOP votes needed to put the tax question on a special ballot. And Democrats say Brown's alternative scenario - an all-cuts budget - is a nonstarter for his own party.

With lawmakers united only in their anger at Brown, the coming days and weeks won't be pretty, experts predict.

"What we'll see now is trench warfare. It may not be a matter of sweeping strategies and sudden grand solutions, but fights over inches of ground," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College.

Pitney speculated the veto by the 73-year-old governor - a seasoned politician who first led the state from 1975 to 1983 and later served two terms as mayor of Oakland - was calculated to throw lawmakers off balance.

"Maybe his overall strategy is keep them waiting, keep them guessing," Pitney said. "That may give him some leverage over the Legislature, though how he uses that leverage is another matter."

Brown alluded to such a strategy Thursday, saying his veto of the Democratic budget was the most productive way to proceed.

"I think it will shake up the system in a way that will give a better result, however difficult the next few days may turn out to be," he said at a news conference in Los Angeles.

The governor said he intends to keep pursuing tax extensions, though he offered no specific insight into how he plans to turn things around with Republicans. Brown spokesman Gil Duran on Friday declined to comment on the governor's strategy.

Brown wants to ask voters to extend for up to five years sales, vehicle and personal income tax hikes enacted in 2009. In the meantime, he wants the Legislature to approve a funding bridge extending the tax increases until the special election.

The Democrats have majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate, but need at least two GOP votes in each house to pass tax increases or place measures on a ballot.

Democratic lawmakers said they felt blindsided by Brown's swift rejection of their budget plan, and many expressed frustration that the governor may be engaged in a quixotic endeavor.